[Challenge] Why does Demand Increase as Price Increase?

Customer: "What? 8% increase in price?"

Salesman: "I apologize for the increased price. you have to understand, companies are falling, people are going broke, and we are going through a tough time here. So weee..."

Customer: "BUT 8% INCREASE IN PRICE IS TOO MUCH!"

Salesman: "I'm sorry, but I've repeated myself a lot of times. Its a tough period we are going through now. The price increase is perfectly justified if we were to continue to stay in business."

Customer: "Sigh....alrite, I'll take 444 of those today. I'll come back for more next week"

Salesman: "444? Woah, and I thought I busted this sales. I believe that you aware that our goods are perhaps one of the most inferior type compared to all our competitors. 444? Geez, you usually buy 380 from us every week. But you are buying a 444 for this week? What happened?"

Customer: "yea, we want to stay in business too. We can't help it but to buy more despite you bastards trying to slash us here."

Salesman: "Don't mind me asking. Our competitors lowered their price. Shouldn't you be interested in dealing business with them instead?"

Customer: "Nupe. If I explain the whole situation, and if your boss is smart enough to understand the whole concept, you guys might jack up the price even more. And we can't afford that happening to us. Just to let you know, we reduced our business dealings with your competitors."

Salesman: "funny, competitors lowered their price, we raised out price and yet you are buying heaps from us. I'm not gonna ask more since I'm happy about this sales. Still....WOW, i guess you guys are doing pretty well. I mean, 380 to 444, thats like 16% increased in sales. Thanks"

Customer: "Ironic eh?"

---

You read the conversation, but can you figure what just happened?
Despite a 8% rise in price, There is a 16% increase in demand. Plus, this scenario happened in times of bad economy. Not to mention, the customer could do business with a competitor who lowered their prices.

Woah, what just happen? The customer could ditch the salesman and do business with the competitor instead which obviously has a higher quality product. But he did not do that, instead he chose to reduce business dealing with the competitor (who lowered his price) and increase business dealing with salesman (who increased his price).

Logically speaking for most cases, demand decreases as price increases. But this case is an exact opposite whereby demand increases as price increases.

If you are observant enough, you could see the logic behind it being applied to real world situations. This is a very rare situation, but it does happen sometimes.

There is a perfect sound logical explanation behind this. My challenge to you is:
"Can you figure out what is the logic behind this case whereby demand increased as price increased?"

I'll make it easy for you by putting the above scenario in point form:
1) Salesman price - up by 8%
2) Competitor price - down by ??%
3) Demand from customer - up by 16%
4) Scenario happened in times of bad economy.

Logic behind this will be presented in my next post. Best commenter will have an honorary mention in my next post.

Time Control

For some unknown reason, inspiration hit me and I had this twsited idea about time control. Lets just assume that there is this power called time-control, who would god grant this power to? I'm not talking about time machine where anyone could just jump in and travel in between time, but rather I'm talking about the ability to control time granted to an individual (imagine Hiro Nakamura from Heroes)


For this article, I'll split people into 4 general categories.
1) A person who lives in the past. Imagine an emo kid who would spent most of his time reminiscing his past life, wondering what would happened if he just did this and that. A loser, a pessimist. Lets name this person PastEmoKid.
2) A person who lives in the future. Imagine an ambitious person who would want to revolutionize the world one day. A leader, an optimist. Lets name this person FutureLeaderKid.
3) A person who lives in the present. Imagine a happy go lucky person who loves nothing more that to enjoy the present. One who appreciate the beauty of the present. Lets name this person LuckyPresent.
4) A person who doesn't care. An unsympathetic bastard who couldn't be bothered with the past, the present nor the future. Lets name this person 3POINT8.

[Question Time: If you had to pick one, which of the above personality would suit you more? Are you the type to delve in you past, OR are you the type to constantly imagine the future OR Are you the type who appreciates the present? Which personality is more dominant in your life?]

Lets just assume the ability to control time is granted to everyone, this is what I would think would happen:
1) PastEmoKid would have painful memories (or happy memories, either way works) that would linger in his thoughts throughout all his years of living till the present. Given this time control ability, he would definitely travel to the past to change the painful event (or to relive the wonderful memories) Eventually, he will always want to travel back in time further and further into oblivion.

2) FutureLeader would have ideas on how to change the world. Given this time control ability, he would travel into the future to satisfy his curiosity on how the future looks like. He would probably do something in the present and travel into the future just to see the outcome of his actions. Eventually, he would travel further and further ahead in time further and further into oblivion.

3) LuckyPresent would want to enjoy the wonderful present time not wanting to look back or move forward in time. Given this time control ability, he would want to stay in the present for all eternity, especially if he found that ultimate present moment (eg: being with the girl of his dreams). Eventually, he would slow time until it stop, never moving forward neither backward in time, voluntarily being a prisoner of the present.

Assuming that there is god who could grant people with time control ability, the above 3 people should never be granted this ability since they would either travel all the way to oblivion or end up as a prisoner for all eternity.


What about the fourth person?
4) Time does not matter for 3POINT8 as for he is a person who just doesn't care about time. He couldn't be bothered thinking about the past, the present nor the future. It is all the same to him. Given this time control ability, he would do nothing. Eventually, nothing will happen, nothing will be changed and everything will go according to the flow.

Just as fashion change with time, abilities too change with time in the godly world. Lets just say god has a warehouse filled with all sorts of cool nifty abilities, and the new season is coming in soon. New abilities would swarm his warehouse and he had to dump all the outdated obsolete power out to make way for all the new powers. Assuming time-travel ability is old school, I'm pretty certain god wouldn't want to dump it to the first three person (EmoPast, FutureLeader and LuckyPresent)

So the only person god would dump this ability to, is the unsympathetic bastard, 3POINT8.
That is why if there is this thing called the ability to time-travel, the perfect person to wield it shall be 3POINT8.

Hi, my name is 3POINT8 and I have the power to change the date and time of my blog post.

Now now, Ain't you envious that I'm granted with this power?

3POINT8 - Sin City Style

Daytime as 3POINT8 basking in the sun on the lush green grass staring at the blue blue sky while listening to calming classical music.

The night beckons as 3POINT8 stood there under the heavy storm enjoying the creepy howling wind one last time before causing a bloody murder scene.

“If you murder an innocent man you are responsible for the blood of his unborn descendants, and the weight of this responsibility is yours to carry to the end of time”

When you commit a crime, even the most joyful scene seems dark.
No matter how tempting is it, do not pick up a fight unnecessarily. You might KILL someone.

Moral of the Story: When 3POINT8 starts to whack you with a stick for no apparent reason, never retaliate for you might kill the ONE and ONLY sarcastic 3POINT8.

Useful Links:
1) How to Get that Sin City Look in Your Image
2) Blood Dripping Text Effect

Related Content:
1) Inconspicuous Stranger (pt 1/2)
2) Assassin's Ego (pt 2/2)

---

The Last Step

----The Last Step----

[A Fiction]

Page1: Edicius Edicius Edicius Edicius...

Her name was Edicius. At age 19, Edicius was my first girlfriend. There is so much to tell about her, so much so that I do not even know where to begin.
Edicius was the shy girl who sat in front of me in psychology class and Edicius has the most beautiful name. When I first lay my eyes on her, she was as normal as any ordinary girls, just a bit shy. I started talking to Edicius after the first major university exam. It was then I got to know her and we actually went out for a couple of months.

She was quite a problematic child back then. Anyone with a sane mind could see that Edicius was the type that doesn't have any real friends. She was a liar and she was obsess with attention. She once told me that she was raped before just before reaching puberty. The truth is - she never was. I guess she wants my sympathy. Then there was this one big fight that changed everything. Oddly, we became real close friends after we broke up. In fact, I was her only friend back then.

A few months down the road, she left the university. She was hated by virtually everyone. Do you remember the one girl back in high school everyone use to refer as bitch, slut, whore? That sort of alias reveal pretty much of her reputation. Till date, I never understood why she would act the way she did. Everyone hated her for it. She couldn't take it so she left.

There were times when I'd be embarrassed to say that I'm was still friend with her. After the big fight, I wasn't embarrassed anymore. Even after she apologized, I didn't care. It was just too late. She got worse too. She left her second university for some hospital. She was reluctant to tell me about it but I could have guess that she had some real issues.

She used to call me from there. Sometimes she would ask me to visit. But I never would. Eventually I stop returning her call and she stop calling.

When you stop caring for someone, its easier to forget about them. I didn't see her again until that April. I was working and she walked in. I ran to the back so she wouldn't see me. I watched her. I was scared. It must have been months since I last saw her. she looked Different. She is taller, Her hair was shorter and I felt that she was bolder. Eventually she walked out and I followed her from behind. She got in the car and left. That was the last time I ever saw her.

I wondered for some time, what it was like when she took that last step of life, maybe even for just a split second. Could she be thinking that she didn't want to leave? It would have been too late anyway. After that first step, it was too late to step back.

Three more hours and I'm still contemplating whether or not to attend her funeral.

38Pages - That is the time it took me to reminisce the past while jotting her name repeatedly on pieces of crumpled paper. Its funny how the first 19pages is a mirror image of the last 19pages. Subconsciously, I wrote her name backwards.

Page 38: Suicide Suicide Suicide Suicide...

----Penned by 3POINT8----

What do you think of my writing style?

Revoke: Dang War

This post is directed to Gliterratti members of Innit Nuffnang.
In Innit Nuffnang, there is this unspoken rule that "You shouldn't nang your own post".
[Translation: You shouldn't support your own post]

If you have no idea what this is all about, grab a popcorn and enjoy reading this post anyway.
If you have a slight idea on what all this is about, join in and get involved.
If you have a very strong idea on I'm talking about, time to open up your eyes and explore the world beyond your boundaries.

I saw this link and I couldn't help but to revoke on this matter.
http://tiu-dang-king.blogspot.com/
[the objective of the creation of that blog: to gather and dang together until the self-nangers can't even remember their own surname.]

Allow me to relate this to economic theory. I've always wanted to be an economist because I believe that its biggest factor that keeps the world spinning in the modern era. Money dictates which industry will triumph and bestow power to those who are filled with it.
Everything that boomed: all technological advancement, ideologies, and methodology that we all enjoy now were once financed by economy. Light bulbs would not have been invented if no one supported Thomas Edison's lifestyle. He would not have survive long enough to invent the light bulb had no one fed him.

An analogy would be this: To start a business, you have to have a certain amount of capital and support. This is the case for most small time business owners. Lets venture out from small time businesses and look at the bigger picture, Public Listed Companies. Shareholders own a public company. The more they invest in the company, the more shares they acquire in that company, the more power and authority they have within the company.

The more money invested, the more the company can perform in terms of its operation. With money, the company can expand on its current existing operations as well experiment on new ideas. If new stuff works, it'll be good for the company. If it doesn't, it was an effort well spent as a lesson to all future endeavors.

In short:
1) Company requires investment in order to go big.
2) To have authority within a company, invest in it as much as possible.

Assuming I'm the pioneer of the company, I have to 'self-invest' in my own company to provide confidence to all my supporters, my rivals as well as those in between to proclaim that this company of mine will triumph above all other, worthy of being a major adversary to every other competitors.

Similiar to the earlier Thomas Edison analogy. If no one supports his lifestyle, he has to be the one to be supporting his own lifestyle and research. This is the concept of self-investing.Lets imply this 'self-invest' concept to innit, nang and dang.
To support (the act of self-nang) my own post is a way of telling people that I believe in my ability to write and my strong analytical skill.

The link I provided earlier is a blog that favours dang, an act of damnation. For reason unknown to dang-ers themselves, the act of dang might impair the confidence within certain bloggers and this is bad for the society as it discourage new ideas. In a way, this blog serves the main purpose of condemning to those who practice self-invest.

Unless they deem themselves as agents of destruction, one who enjoy nothing more than to restrict creativity and new ideas for their own amusement, there are no strong reason to why anyone would want to dang self nang-ers. Baskets~~~

Question to you is:
Would you condemn those who believed and invested in their own effort?

Suspected Fact:
1) Nang is a supportive act. Nang implies support.
2) Dang is a destructive act. Dang implies damnation.
3) Nuffnang is an advertising company in malaysia that deals mainly with blogs.
4) Innit is a place where members of nuffnang can post their blog post to be assess by other bloggers. Its a concept similiar to the Digg.
5) Unspoken rule are rules created by a mob of people who believes in imaginary authority.

Additional info
I once supported serial dang-ers [Click here to read more]. But holding on to the ideology of dang-ing a self-nanger is a bit too extreme. It is a very twisted thought and I do not like jokers like these. Its bad for business.

Back in action

Its been a while since 3POINT8 posted anything. Well, that is because 3POINT8 took a break and decided to travel with Sep 2008 FHM mid cover girl (Malaysian Edition), Nicole Tan.

I'm started to develop a feeling of reluctance in writing my personal life ever since I aim to get myself into creative writing. But hey, if you want to read all about snippets of my travel with Nicole Tan, here are some links to Nicole's writing that involves me:
1) http://nicolekiss.blogspot.com/2008/09/visiting-free-hug-campaign-pioneer-juan.html
[I had dinner with blogger celebrity, Nicole Tan and youtube celebrity, Juan Mann]
2) http://nicolekiss.blogspot.com/2008/08/do-you-want-to-lick-me.html
[This is the post about licking her, host and me]

Though I will not express my personal life here, I will however come up with a story, create a couple of fictional characters and imbue my thoughts to them.

Speaking of creative writing, I wonder if I have what it takes to write for the mainstream media. I would be honored if I have the chance to publish my articles in newspapers, magazines and reach out to people in mass.
Just in case an editor fancy my writing style, this is my email add:
jommakan@gmail.com
[Drop me a mail if you want me to write for something.]
[Drop me a mail if you have any contacts that could be useful.]
[Drop me a mail if you have any suggestions or tips on how to be a successful freelance/creative writer.]
[or you could drop me a mail if you want to have a chat or something like that]

Fact:
1) FHM [For Him Magazine] is an international monthly Men's Lifestyle magazine.
2) 3POINT8 wants to be a freelance writer.